Get Health Challenge – Week 3

Week 3 – middle of our Challenge! The goal is to be healthy. This is not about fad diets; it’s about changes for mind, body, and spirit health. Here’s how each of us are doing.

Emily: I’m in a routine now, of sorts. I wake before my family and take time for my mind. I have been taking an online Ayurveda course. It’s challenging for me due to the Sanskrit language, but Ayurveda makes sense to me. Understanding what foods are right for me, what times of day I’m most productive, or why my thoughts float through my head is fascinating. This post isn’t about Ayurveda though, is it? My point is this: keep your mind sharp but also know how to relax it as well.

As for the body part of this tri-health challenge, I’m feeling great! Focusing on vegetables and organic meats is key for me along with lots of water and less coffee. I have passed up the homemade apple pie, the freshly baked loaves of bread, and the popcorn… It’s been my choice, and I’m glad for it.

I have to share this story though. A few days ago my sons were begging for a pizza – a loaded pizza. Because it was errand day and, frankly, I was looking for the easy way out, we grabbed a large loaded pizza on the way home. Understand that “grabbing” a pizza is not as easy as calling delivery. We live VERY remotely, and it is a BIG deal to have take-out. Our choices are limited as well – pizza or burgers from one location 25 minutes from home.

So we’re on the way home with this pizza. It smells awesome. My husband says, “Should we check the pizza to make sure it’s ok?” I’m thinking, “It’s a pizza. It’s fine.” He likes everything crisp – as in d-a-r-k. Doesn’t he reach in the back seat AS HE IS DRIVING to look at the pizza?! Yup, we almost crashed. I totally needed some meditation after that drive home! Told you takeout pizza is huge for us!

The point of the pizza is this: Bad choice. I ate one slice. Remember? I was desperate! Well, that one slice was a sufficient amount of food for the rest of the day. It was like a brick in my stomach. Now, the pizza was okay; but seriously I didn’t enjoy it like I thought I would. I do believe I’ve learned that gluten (loaded pizza especially) is not a healthy choice for me.

The Holidays have just passed. This year has been a tumultuous one for my spirit. It’s been a time of connecting with what I believe and being gentle with myself. As a younger person, I was strongly opinionated and absolutely it was my way or the highway. How wonderful it has been to allow more love and peace and acceptance of myself and others. This may be the most healthy part of this Challenge for me.

This Get Healthy Challenge is teaching me lots of things about myself. 1. Meditation does calm the mind (especially after a scary ride with pizza). 2. Gluten is not my friend. 3. It’s okay to be in a state of figuring it out and allow others the same privilege. 4. Water is good! Yes, Christina, yes, it is.

Christina:

My week 3 is going well… We travel SO much that making good choices is hard. I want EVERYTHING – fries, pizza, burgers, cakes, ice cream… and I don’t want to live a life where I have to eat a dry salad while watching everyone else treat their taste buds with interesting foods. If I sacrifice, this lifestyle change will not last. I will lose a bunch of weight, cut out all things I love and then I will quit. I’ve done it a hundred times and I know it is setting myself up for failure. Not. This. Time.

I’ve still been eating out but when we do, we make healthier choices. One of our favorite things to do is to split an entree sized salad (spinach salad with cranberries and feta is my favorite!) as an appetizer and then split an entree for our meal. I still get french fries when the urge strikes but if we are splitting a meal it’s not as damaging to my diet. With as much as we travel, I’m never going to avoid eating out. And if I tried, I’d be miserable. This option saves in calories and in budget!

In week 1 of our Get Healthy New Year Challenge, I joined the gym. It was difficult to get going but Bill and I both decided to go back. We found a comfortable gym last year at one of the hotels close to home. There are a lot of elderly people there and the weights area is rarely used. We like the privacy of our gym. It’s close by and we can squeeze it in in the morning or at the end of the day without much effort. In the beginning it was difficult to just go. Once there, we completed our workout. NOW, 3 weeks later, it feels weird if we don’t go. I prefer to go in the morning because there is nothing to get in our way. It’s done and out of the way. Plus, it helps me get in the right mindset for the day.

Walking has been a challenge for us. Cold weather is one thing but when the roads are dangerous it’s another. On the days that it is too nasty outside to walk, I choose from a couple different things to ensure I’m still getting cardio in. I have a few workout videos I can choose from. I usually get bored with them but one of them is my favorite. My favorite is the Yoga Booty Ballet (Amazon). I love that it is slow enough to master and I feel like I work all parts of my body. PLUS, the moves are sexy so it puts a smile on my face and does wonders for my esteem. Another thing I do is use the treadmill. We have one here but I like to go to our gym sometimes. We can go on the treadmills, bicycles and such. And we can also go in the pool and do a few laps.

A big one for both of us is cutting back and quitting artificial sweetener. I haven’t completely quit but am working toward it. Bill read that artificial sweetener tricks your body into thinking it’s getting calories from the sweet and when the body doesn’t it 1. makes you hungry and 2. stores calories/fat. It makes sense to me so I’m trying to watch how much I use and have reduced it in my coffee by half.

What I’ve learned in the past 3 weeks is it doesn’t matter what I do as long as I’m doing it. If I make healthier choices, exercise and put a positive foot forward, success is mine. And the scale is my proof to that. I am 5 pounds down in 3 weeks! That is a healthy amount and I feel proud.

Week 4 we are going to look closer at our meals. If you have any recipes, please share! Week 4 is where we can relax a little and play with our food!